THIS WEEKEND The
stars came out in full force for the caper flick Ocean's
Twelve which swiped the number one spot from National
Treasure after a three-week reign. Wesley Snipes debuted in
the runnerup spot with another sequel - the vampire thriller Blade:
Trinity. The two new releases helped power the top ten close
to the $100M mark as the North American box office remained busy with only
a few weeks left in the year.

George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and their gang of crooks returned
to the number one spot with Ocean's Twelve which
made off with $39.2M, according to final studio
figures, giving the Steven Soderbergh-directed film a slightly larger bow
than its 2001 predecessor. Averaging a sturdy $11,901 from 3,290 theaters,
Twelve also stars Oscar winners Julia
Roberts and Catherine Zeta-Jones along with Andy Garcia and Bernie Mac.
Ocean's Eleven also opened in early
December three years ago and bowed to $38.1M from 3,075 theaters for a
somewhat better $12,393 average.

Adult moviegoers neglected by the recent flood of kidpics came out to
the multiplexes again for the European-set antics of Twelve
which generated the fourth biggest December opening ever after
the three Lord of the Rings epics.
Budgeted at $110M, Ocean's Twelve hopes
to find the same worldwide success as Eleven
which grossed $183.4M domestically and over $440M globally. Over the weekend,
the ensemble film also grossed $4.5M from debuts in Australia, Thailand,
Puerto Rico, India, and Malaysia with several major European markets like
France, Germany, and Italy opening this Friday.

Opening in second place with $16.1M was Wesley Snipes' third turn as
the vampire-human action star in Blade: Trinity.
Attacking 2,912 theaters, the R-rated New Line sequel averaged a decent
$5,516 and has collected $24.5M since its Wednesday bow. The five-day gross
failed to reach the $32.5M three-day opening and $12,016 average of Blade
II from March 2002. After three weeks at number one, Disney's
action-adventure National Treasure
dropped a reasonable 42% to third place with $9.8M. The Nicolas Cage hit
has grossed $124.1M to date.

Warner Bros. saw more good news in fourth place as its animated fantasy
The Polar Express kept chugging away
taking in $9.6M in its fifth weekend for a slender decline of only 11%.
After a mild launch, the studio had high hopes that the Tom Hanks film
would play through Thanksgiving and then hold onto its momentum leading
up to Christmas. Those hopes are now working their holiday magic as Polar
has pushed its total up to a cool $109.8M becoming the 19th
title of 2004 to join the century club and the 15th career blockbuster
for Hanks. With strong mid-week sales and kids leaving school soon for
their winter breaks, the $170M Robert Zemeckis-directed hit looks to surge
past the $150M domestic gross mark and could climb much higher. Overseas,
Express boosted its cume this weekend
to $47.1M from 45 countries.

Off only 32% was Sony's holiday comedy Christmas
with the Kranks which collected $7.6M in its third weekend.
The Tim Allen-Jamie Lee Curtis film has taken in $54.8M thus far. The
Incredibles, the highest-grossing film of the last five months,
took sixth place with $5M. Off 44%, the Disney/Pixar juggernaut has grossed
$232.6M to date putting it at number 41 on the list of all-time domestic
blockbusters behind the $233.6M of 2000's Cast
Away.

Paramount's The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
dropped 43% to $4.4M bringing its cume to $73.6M. Sony suffered a steep
52% decline for its Julia Roberts-Jude Law drama Closer
despite adding more theaters. The Mike Nichols-directed film grossed $3.7M
from 622 theaters and averaged $6,005 which was still solid, but down a
hefty 63% from its debut average last weekend. With $13.7M in the bank,
Closer expands nationally on Friday.

The Johnny Depp film Finding Neverland
took in $1.7M, down 40%, giving Miramax a total of $14.2M from under 600
theaters. Rounding out the top ten was the not-so-great Alexander
which tumbled 69% in its third battle to $1.5M. The $150M Warner Bros.
release has conquered a meager $32.6M.

Bill Murray made a big splash with the platform opening of his latest
film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
which debuted in solo houses in New York and Los Angeles to the tune of
$113,085. Averaging a stunning $56,542 per theater, the Wes Anderson-directed
comedy about an underwater researcher and his mission to find the shark
that ate his friend co-stars Owen Wilson, Cate Blanchett, Anjelica Huston,
and Jeff Goldblum. The opening weekend average was in line with the $55,396
debut average of the director's last film, The
Royal Tenenbaums which was released in December 2001 on its
way to a $52.3M take. Life Aquatic
will expand nationally on Christmas Day.

Sony saw encouraging results on Saturday evening from sneak previews
of its Adam Sandler comedy Spanglish
which was at 75% capacity from 1,100 theaters. Adult women made up the
core audience as exit polls indicated that 56% was female and 60% were
over 25 plus 91% marked the film as Excellent or Very Good so word-of-mouth
could build during the week. Directed by James L. Brooks, Spanglish
also stars Tea Leoni and opens nationwide on Friday in about 2,200 theaters
opposite Paramount's Lemony Snicket's A Series
of Unfortunate Events starring Jim Carrey with over 3,200 locations
and Fox's Flight of the Phoenix starring
Dennis Quaid which flies into 2,700 playdates.

A pair of Universal releases fell from the top ten this weekend. The
comedy sequel Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
stumbled 60% in its fifth frame to $1.1M putting the total take at $38.4M.
A final tally of $40M seems likely which would put it 33% below the $60.3M
gross of 2001's Bridget Jones's Diary
which was distributed by Miramax. Overseas however, Edge
of Reason has grossed a stunning $140M to date (led by $60.8M
from the UK) and is holding on much better. Oscar hopeful Ray
fell 50% in its seventh tour to $954,050 bringing its soulful cume up to
$69.3M. The Jamie Foxx biopic should conclude its run with $72-75M depending
on whether it can get a boost from potential Golden Globe and Oscar nominations.

Among notable holdovers in limited release, Fox Searchlight's Sideways,
which won five major awards from the L.A. Film Critics Association including
best film, director, and screenplay, grossed $1.2M, down 31%, lifting its
total to $14.3M. The distributor's Liam Neeson pic Kinsey
collected $525,881, off 29%, for a $4.4M sum. Sony Classics remained in
15 locations with its martial arts drama House
of Flying Daggers but saw sales tumble 48% to $205,416. The
Zhang Yimou-directed film averaged a potent $13,694 and raised its ten-day
total to $723,017.

The top ten films grossed $98.5M which was up a healthy 30% from last
year when Something's Gotta Give opened
at number one with $16.1M; and up 13% from 2002 when Maid
in Manhattan debuted in the top spot with $18.7M.

Compared to projections, both Ocean's Twelve
and Blade: Trinity opened below my
respective forecasts of $48M and $26M.

Take this week's NEW Reader
Survey on whether Lemony Snicket can
unseat Ocean's Twelve next weekend.
For NEW reviews of The Life Aquatic
and Shwaas, visit The
Chief Report.

Be sure to check back on Thursday
for a complete summary, including projections, for next weekend when Lemony
Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, Flight
of the Phoenix, and Spanglish
all open.

This column is updated three times each week:
Thursday
(upcoming weekend's summary), Sunday
(post-weekend analysis with estimates), and Monday
night (actuals). Data source: Exhibitor
Relations, EDI. Opinions expressed
in this column are those solely of the author.

Last Updated : December
13, 2004 at 6:00PM EST

Gitesh Pandya can be seen each Friday on "The
Biz" airing live at 12:30pm ET on CNNfn with a replay at 4:30pm.